Sunday, April 22, 2007

Bonds Dominating Again

After Barry Bonds struggle through the first half of last season, through times when his batting average dipped into the .230's, there where plenty of questions regarding this guys health, and whether or not he was finished. Bonds finally rebounded in the second half of the year last season putting some of those questions to rest, but there where still plenty of doubters. The doubters have to be biting their tongue now, Bonds is back. He has been nothing short of spectacular early on in the 2007 season, looking as healthy and fresh as he has in 3 years. Love him or hate him, he'd likely be your 2007 NL MVP if the season ended right now. His bat along with the tremendous starting pitching the team has gotten over the seasons' first 3 weeks has taken the Giants from a sorry, 2-7 ball club, and turned them into a respectable 9-8 team. If you take away that heartbreaking loss suffered in Colorado after Matt Cains' last start, this team would be riding an 8 game winning streak. Arguably the teams' two most valuable components were again at their best Sunday as Matt Cain lowered his era to a measly 1.55, and Bonds hit his 6th home run of the year. Cain has now gone 3 consecutive starts allowing 3 hits or less and 1 run or less. Cain doesn't get the hype that other guys, but this is the best pitcher under the age of 25 going right now, sorry Felix Hernandez fans. Bonds now has 6 home runs in 46 official at-bats, and has 740 in his career. That is the kind of ratio he was hitting them at during his MVP years. The best thing about these home runs, is that he's hitting them when the team is needing them the most. Almost all of Bonds' home runs this season have either tied a game, or put the Giants ahead in a game. The Giants haven't had this kind of bat in their lineup since Bonds was healthy in 2004 and it's no coincidence they are now also playing there best ball since 2004. As Barry Bonds goes, so go the Giants. If Barry plays MVP ball all year long like he is right now, this team has good enough pitching and enough defense to win this division.

I know this is a San Francisco Giants Blog, and I won't normally touch on subjects outside of baseball, but I have to give some major props to the Golden State Warriors. The W's made the playoffs for the first time since I was 10 years old, so this is big news in the Bay Area. I'm not expecting much from them as they are squaring off against the Western Conferences' best in the Dallas Mavericks, but this Warriors have owned them all year, so It wouldn't be a complete shock to see the Mavs struggle. The W's are going to have to play their pace of basketball and exploit mis-matches vs. the Mavs if they are going to do the unthinkable.

5 Comments:

The MVP, if the season ended today, would probably be a toss-up between Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Bonds.

While I share your enthusiasm about Bonds, you might be overrating Cain just a tad. I think he is great and all, but don't forget about Jeremy Bonderman, Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, and a few other guys that could compare to Cain.

I'm not forgetting about any of them. I would take Cain over all of them and I'm not the only one. The league is hitting .200 off this guy in his career, and he's only 22. It doesn't get any better than that.

Reyes has been great for the Mets, but I don't think he's been as valuable to them as Bonds has been to the Giants. Take Reyes away from the Mets and they are still very good. Take Bonds away from the Giants and you have the worst offense in baseball.

What Bonds is doing this year is just amazing. He's leading the national league in OPS at age 42. It's really just amazing. How many people underestimated Barry coming into this season? could you possibly even count them all?

I also agree you can't possibly take Reyes or Beltran over Bonds. Without Bonds in the lineup the Giants would be about 5-14 instead of 11-8... the Mets could lose any one player and still have the best offense in the NL.